The year 2024 has been a whirlwind for the Indian cricket team in Test cricket. They began with a dominant away victory in Cape Town, followed by commanding home series wins against England and Bangladesh, showcasing their strong form test debut in 2024.
However, the tide turned dramatically with a 0-3 home series whitewash against New Zealand, a shocking outcome that dented India’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final and ended their incredible streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories.
With veterans Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane exiting the Test setup and Mohammed Shami sidelined by a year-long injury, India has turned to new faces in their search for stability in the longest format.
List of Indian cricketers to make test debut in 2024:
1. Rajat Patidar
Rajat Patidar was drafted into the Indian Test squad as a replacement for Virat Kohli during the home series against England.
Making his debut in the second Test, Patidar scored 32 and 9 in his two innings. Struggling to solidify his place in the middle order, he managed just 63 runs across six innings at a modest average of 10.5.
Since the England series, Patidar has not featured in the Indian Test team.
2. Dhruv Jurel
Jurel’s standout performance came during the fourth test of the series in Ranchi, where he amassed 90 runs in the first innings followed by an unbeaten innings of 39 to guide India to victory.
Jurel has scored 201 runs in his test career of five innings so far with an outstanding average of 50.25.
3. Sarfaraz Khan
Making his test debut alongside Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan started his international journey against England in 2024 in Rajkot.
Showcasing his impressive stroke-making capability, Sarfaraz impressed with a quickfire knock of 62, followed by an unbeaten 68 in his debut game, living up to his reputation as one of the best Indian cricketers in domestic cricket in the last few years.
Sarfaraz’s maiden test century came during the first test of New Zealand’s tour of India in Bengaluru where he led India’s second innings fightback, scoring 150 off 195, but his knock went in vain as India lost the match by eight wickets.
4. Akash Deep
Akash Deep received his maiden test call-up to the Indian cricket team for the last three tests of the home test series against England. Akash made his debut in the fourth test of the series and impressed immediately, taking big wickets of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the first innings.
Akash has taken 10 wickets in eight innings so far in his test career. He is also part of India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
5. Devdutt Padikkal
Young Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal made his test debut in the fifth match of England’s tour of India 2024. The stylish left-hander impressed with a high-quality knock of 65 off 103 balls in his first innings.
Padikkal played the second test of his career in Perth, where he bagged a duck in the first innings.
6. Nitish Kumar Reddy
Emerging Indian all-rounder Nitish Reddy made his test debut against Australia in the first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. 2024 has been a remarkable year for Nitish Kumar Reddy, as his impressive performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) led to his T20I debut against Bangladesh earlier this year.
Nitish scored 90 runs in three T20I games against Bangladesh at a blistering strike of 180 and also picked up three wickets.
7. Harshit Rana
Harshit Rana also made his test debut against Australia in the first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Perth.
Rana was impressive in the IPL 2024, taking 19 wickets in 13 games. He played a crucial role in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ title-winning campaign and took 2/24 in the final.